The vehicle that the Lady Panther golfers take to their IHSA Sectional next Monday will be a bit crowded; and that’s a good thing. On Thursday three of the team’s golfers qualified for the meet after placing in the top ten individuals, not on a qualifying team, at the St. Bede IHSA Regional played at the Spring Creek Golf Course in Spring Valley.
Sophomore, Michelle Naftzger shot a 104 good for 9th overall. A freshman, Piper Stenzel, from Seneca won the meet posting an 86. Also heading to Sectional will be Panther sophomore, Isabella Johnston who carded a 109 and junior, Lillian McWilliams with a 110.
Jaelin Hawkins shot a 115 for the final piece of the team score. Gabi Abell (116) and Hannah Huisman (122) also competed for EP.
The Panthers shot a 438 to take 6th in the 10 team field but only 4 stokes back of the third qualifying team. Seneca won the Regional posting a 412 with El-Paso Gridley finishing with 415.
Coach Bard Tichler said, “I was extremely pleased! Of course you always want to make it as a team and we were fighting back and forth for that third and final spot the whole back nine. I told the girls losing out on 5 shots, you can of course second guess different holes, but last year we shot a 488 and finished 9th and this year a 438 and that is what I am most proud of.”
